A Taste of Honey Read Online Free PDF Page B

not following her back to the inn where he could have easily found out who she was and who she was staying with.  The violent pounding of her heart against her chest only lessened once she had entered the building and returned to her room within.
    Robin's sleeping form lay quietly in one of the beds.  She had not been able to wait up for her sister to come home, but even Robin would admit that she rarely finished things that she started.
    Katherine pulled off the cloak and set it on its hook, her hands shaking as she debated whether or not to wake Robin up and share with her the recent experience.
    Being twins Robin had once felt that they should share and do everything together.  As children Katherine had reminded Robin that when they were married they wouldn't be together anymore.  “We'll just have to marry the same man.”  Had been her solution.  “That way we'll always be together.”  It was strange how much had changed since then.
    Thinking back to her sister's little schemes from when they were children and had made too much mischief, like pouring salt into the sugar bowl, she remembered that her sister had always included her, saying that when it was the two of them they were less likely to get in too much trouble for the mayhem they caused.  That was the kind of camaraderie that she needed now. 
    While her first instinct was to keep it to herself she remembered that trusting in her instincts had led her to kiss a strange man in the middle of an alley only moments ago.  The haunting thought of his breath and the feel of his hands remained on her body, like an imprint that he had left behind and deep in her skin.
    Katherine pushed her sister's shoulder until she jerked awake.  Sitting beside her on the bed she began to confess.  “Robin, I think I did something wrong.”
    “Already?” Robin grunted as she sat up in bed and stretched her arms over her head like a lazy cat that had been warming in the sun.  “I haven't been asleep for long, so you couldn't have done much.”
    Katherine discovered that it had been far easier to do the kissing than it was to explain what she had done. “I kissed a man.” She cringed at how odd it sounded.
    Robin bolted awake quicker than if she had been thrown in the ice cold pond behind their house.  “What?” she shouted, loud enough for the entire inn to hear.
    “Shh!” Katherine whispered, listening for any noises through the walls.  When she turned back to her sister Robin's face was frozen with shock and disbelief.  Katherine wondered if that was what she looked like to Robin each time she heard of some new scheme or bit of trouble that her sister had gotten into.  She tried not to smile at how odd the reversal of their positions was.  Neither of them would have guessed that Katherine would be the first of them to kiss a man.
    “When I went out on my walk tonight I came across a man in one of the alleyways.  He grabbed me so that I couldn't run away, and then I kissed him.”  Katherine blurted it out quickly as if it might relieve some of her embarrassment.  It didn't.
    Robin rubbed her eyes then watched her sister's jittery movements to confirm that she wasn't lying or leading her on to some joke. “What do you mean he grabbed you and then you kissed him?  Don't you mean that he kissed you and you couldn't stop him?” Robin seemed unable to imagine her sister being quite so bold as to kiss a stranger.
    “Well, yes, he kissed me first but after that I kissed him back.” It was impossible to discuss such a thing with her sister who would now want all of the details, so she lied.  “It all happened very quickly, I don't really know what took place.” Katherine tried not to remember each moment that had happened so slowly after she had brought her lips back up to his.  Every breath each of them had taken was cataloged in her head and she could still feel the places of her body that seemed to vibrate after he had touched her.  She couldn't